Gel creams are a desirable form of topical skin care compositions. The gel cream aesthetic is characterized with a watery break, semi-translucent aspect and light after-feel.
NEUTROGENA Hydro Boost Gel Cream, commercially available from Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., is a gel cream providing long lasting moisturization benefits. It absorbs into the skin quickly, like a gel, but has the long-lasting, intense moisturizing power of a cream. It contains hyaluronic acid along with glycerin, cetearyl olivate, and sorbitan olivate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,620,420 discloses cosmetic or dermatological gel creams of the oil-in-water type, comprising: (i) up to 90% by weight of a water phase, (ii) up to 20% by weight of a lipid phase, based on the total weight of the preparations, (iii) up to 5% by weight of one or more emulsifiers, (iv) also comprising up to 5% by weight of one or more ammonium acrylolydimethyltaurate/vinylpyrrolidone copolymers (ARISTOFLEX® AVC commercially available from Clariant GmbH).
Pichia is a genus of yeasts in the family Saccharomycetaceae. More than 100 species of this genus are known. The most well-known species include Pichia anomala, Pichia guilliermondii, Pichia norvegensis, and Pichia ohmeri. 
Pichia anomala (formerly named Hansenula anomala) can be found in raw milk and cheese. The extracts of yeasts of the genus Pichia are rich in mannans, polysaccharides composed of mannose monomers. Pichia anomala and mannans are known to be used in the treatment of aging skin. See, for example, FR 2938768, FR 2906719, FR 2897266 and FR 2976490.
PRO-LIPISKIN® is a commercially available cosmetic ingredient containing extract of Pichia anomala. It is produced by a Pichia strain isolated from sugar cane. It is available from Silab-France.
There exists a need for gel cream formulas with improved anti-aging benefits.
Applicants have now discovered that compositions containing glycerin and yeast extract increase the levels of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) produced by skin in need or treatment for signs of skin aging when administered topically. In particular, these compositions contain glycerin, cetearyl olivate, sorbitan olivate, and extract of Pichia anomala, but are substantially free of fatty alcohols, particularly cetyl alcohol and behenyl alcohol.
Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), such as hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate, are predominantly synthesized by fibroblasts. It is known that the skin aging process brings about a decline in these metabolic activities, resulting in a decrease in the GAG's of the extracellular matrix of the dermis, and a decrease in cell growth, resulting in a detrimental change in the mechanical properties of the skin, in particular its firmness, elasticity, tonicity, and/or suppleness.
Applicants have found the compositions of the invention increase the amount of hyaluronic acid and chondroitin sulfate in skin topically treated with them.
Applicants have also discovered that compositions containing glycerin and yeast extract act as prebiotic compositions, increasing the levels of staphylococcus epidermidis on the skin. Staphylococcus epidermidis is one of the most abundant bacterial species of the skin microbiome. It is a mutualistic, Gram-positive, facultative anaerobe that constitutes 90% of the aerobic resident flora and has been associated with skin health. (Baviera G, Leoni M C, Capra L, et al. Microbiota in healthy skin and in atopic eczema. Biomed Res Int 2014; 2014:436921.)